


What A Way To Go

by AnonymouslyDead



Series: The Way Things End Now [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Season 3, Unrequited Love, Whump, Will has complicated feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 06:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20238127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymouslyDead/pseuds/AnonymouslyDead
Summary: Will finally does Hannibal in. It’s just not in the way he thought it’d be.





	What A Way To Go

Will was already tired when he pulled up at his hotel. He just spent all day agonizing over not only Hannibal’s escape from jail but also his first victims. The poor pair had been a couple, a middle aged man and woman, that Hannibal referred to a couple’s counselor for their issues. Now, they were dead in their home with yellow roses placed into their lungs with the doctor’s surgical precision.

Will had an idea of what was going on in Hannibal’s head. The couple had been frequently cheating on each other, a conversation with their counselor revealed just as much as the yellow roses did. As for them growing in their lungs, there was a mythical disease where the inflicted grew flowers in their lungs until they choked to death. The myth was a metaphor for hidden feelings forcing their way out. 

But, just what was Hannibal trying to say, and why had he waited 3 years to say it?

Will slid his room key through the door’s scanner. The door unlocked with a click, allowing Will to push it open. He didn’t walk three steps in before he noticed the low laborious breathing and the bloodied petals that lead off into the darker side of his room. 

Will froze for a moment. The door behind him eased itself closed. He reached backward and turned the deadbolt. Then, he grasped in the dark for the light switch, bracing himself before flicking it on. 

There’s a weak grunt in protest further in his room. Will followed the petals straight to the source, Hannibal just as he expected. 

Except...Hannibal reclined in the cheap air chair that took up the far corner of his room. His face was pale and sweaty with blood staining his lips. As Will approached him both in curiosity and dread, he watched as Hannibal fell into a weak coughing fit that quickly turned into choking. A minute passed before something slick with blood poked out of his mouth. Hannibal gave a weak attempt at spitting, another petal falling to join the ones staining his bellhop uniform and the ocean of petals at his feet. 

“My...apologies.” Hannibal rasped out. Will could only stare in bewilderment. 

“What the hell is this?” 

“My death.” Hannibal wheezed. “You’ve finally...done me in...Will.” 

Hannibal looked at him, but his eyes were hazy. He blinked frequently as if he was about to fall asleep. 

“How...did this happen?” Will asked, though he already knew, his mind making the connection for him. Hannibal forced his gaze to Will’s but said nothing. He didn’t need to. 

“How’d it get this bad?” Will settled on instead. If nothing else but to settle the flurry of emotions inside him. 

“Rejection.” Hannibal said before coughing yet again. Will moved closer on instinct, patting Hannibal’s back as he bent over hacking despite everything in him screaming how dangerous he was. 

Hannibal spat out a whole flower this time. A rose in full bloom, pristine despite its bloody sheen, joined its fellow petals on the floor. 

“Red...” Hannibal rasped out. He sat up slowly and then fell heavy against the back of the chair. He looked at Will expectantly. 

“How long has this been going on?” Will asked, the true horror of the situation dawning on him. “How did you get this past the orderlies?” 

Hannibal shook his head only for it to lull to his left. This time, he didn’t bother to fix it, only giving Will a crooked stare. “No, Will...Red.”

“Red...roses?” At that, Hannibal closed his eyes, accepting the answer. Suddenly, the answer seemed clear. 

“You love me.” Will said. Hannibal didn’t answer. “You desire me. You’re passionate about me.” 

“...Run away with me.” Hannibal’s breath hitched. “Wanted you to.” 

“I wanted to.” Will answered before he knew it. Hannibal huffed in amusement and shook his head. 

“Pretty lies.” Hannibal craned his neck back. “Wanted to...choke me...You...still can.” 

“What? No!” 

Hannibal let his head fall to the side. His lips curled into a frown. “You deny...me even...this.” He let out on shorter breaths. “You are cruel...Will Grah-“ 

Hannibal’s body jumped as another cough raked his body followed by another and another. Flower petals rained down on his lap one after the other as louder, harsher breaths filled the air. 

“Hannibal?” But, the fit doesn’t stop. “Hannibal, hold on. I’ll call someone.” Will pulled out his phone in a panic.

Hannibal’s hand shot out, clamping onto his arm with a vice grip. Will dropped his phone in surprise as the fingers dig hard into his skin, nearly breaking the skin. Then all at once, the grip relaxed and fell away. 

It took Will a second to recognize that the coughing stopped. Will scrambled to grab Hannibal’s shoulders, his mind screaming that this could be a trick. That Hannibal could launch at him and bury another knife in his stomach. Yet, Hannibal stayed still which was worse in its own right. 

“Hannibal? Come on.” Will slapped Hannibal’s cheeks. A part of him knew Hannibal could take the chance and bit his fingers off, finally getting his chance to taste Will. A part of him hoped he would, but Hannibal stayed despondent. 

Will checked his breathing. Weak. He checked his pulse. He could barely feel it. Will stumbled to retrieve his phone from the floor, punching in 911 with his shaking fingers. 

He fell into a panic when the paramedics finally get there. When they load Hannibal onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. When he’s waiting in the hospital in a constant state of agonizing anticipation. 

He isn’t quite sure why he cares so much. He can’t explain Jack or Alana when he made the call to them. Why he cared about a man who’s tried to kill him so many times. Who’s driven him literally mad. To the point he’d be willing to kill. 

That’s what he told himself, but he knew. He’s always knew in some sense even if it was 

They really wouldn’t survive the separation. 

That’s what Will thought when the nurse came out and gave him the news. And, all he could seem to feel is numbness. The nurse lead him back into the room where Hannibal the Cannibal laid dead. Will could hardly believe it if the monitors weren’t screaming it as well. 

“I’ll give you a minute.” The nurse assured him, but Will wasn’t listening. He walked up to the body, expecting Hannibal to stir. To jump up and attack him yet again. To keep their cat and mouse game going for another round.

Will took Hannibal’s hand. He expected the nails to dig into his skin while the other hand shot to his throat. But, his hands were relaxed in a way Will had never seen. They were always moving whether they were curling around the hilt of a knife, dancing across piano keys, or caressing Will’s cheeks in a brief moment of truth. 

They’d never do that again, Will realized. The thought sent a deep, empty pang through him. 

Will rested his head against the hand, chasing the warmth that was leaving Hannibal’s body. “I really would have. Run away with you. I almost did.” Will said to nothing. 

It was too late now. He knew. He can’t take back the roses he planted. 

**Author's Note:**

> I tried I’d appreciate feedback though!


End file.
